Resort Help...Please!!

[Luthien]

I want to book my trip for December 2007 Sunday, I think that I am going to do room-only with a AAA discount for 10 nights. The cast includes, me, DH, DS13, DD8, DD6 (kids ages are at time of travel).

Our last three trips we stayed at YC water view and loved everything about it.

My dilemma is this - Where do we stay this time!!! We are stuck between four resorts - YC (again), BW, GF garden view, or AKL deluxe savanna.

Please let me provide a little more info and tell you a little about how we "do Disney" We do enjoy going to the parks but we also spend time in our room and enjoying the amenities that the resort has to offer. We love the view from YC - looking across at BW, people watching, watching Illuminations. The short walk to Epcot and MGM, the fact that Epcot is open late. We rent the boats and use SAB, even in December. The abundance of restaurant choices in the area. The YC has been so good to us I am afraid someplace esle won't be as magical, but at the same time we want to try someplace else.

So my fellow Dis'rs, which do I choose??!! How is the view from GF-GV, is there enough to do at AKL?

Please help this very confused, Disney obsessed mother of three who is suffering from a very serious case of RAD right now!

and sorry this is so long!

~Luthien

 

[Demosthenes]

Based on your description of how you "do Disney," I'd stay away from the AKL. The resort is lovely, but it is remote. You can't quickly go to another resort to eat or go boating, and there are only 2 sit-down and one counter service restuarant at the hotel. If you spend a lot of tim at the resort (like we do), you get bored with the choices, but may not feel like the difficulty of a commute to another reosrt or park. Also, there is no quiet pool at AKL, so the pool gets crowded and quite rowdy.

The GF garden view rooms are very nice. Even though it is not quite as active an area as the Epcot resorts, you do have several restaurants on proerty, and an easy commute to two other hotels and their amenities. The GF has a nice marina with a better water playground than the YC. The rooms are a little bigger than those at the YC as well. The pool is nice, though nothing like SAB.

The BW is beautiful, and is frankly a very similar experence to the YC. I prefer the YC to the BW for the pool and marina. Especially since the experience of staying there is so similar.

 

[mmmears]

As someone who loves the YC, I understand your dilemma. We tend to do YC/GF split stays, with more time at the YC because of the reasons you mentioned. Pools are also very important to us.

We're going to try AKL next time even though it is remote. We went for dinner and were blown away by the resort. You might want to consider a split stay, trying one new resort and then going to YC. We're being brave and trying all new ones on our upcoming trip. I have heard that there is so much to do at AKL that many people spend a day there and just do the activities at the resort. GF is lovely, and it's fun to be on the monorail, but no place has a pool like SAB.

Good luck choosing!

 

[utilidor]

Do 2!

We like BC and BW over YC, since they are a little closer to Epcot, so I'd pick one of those and then do the other half of your stay at GF. That way you can concentrate on MK while at GF and Epcot and MGM while over there. Switching resorts is easy, Bell Services takes care of everything.

Our last trip was GF / BW, but before that was GF / BC, which I think was better because of SAB.

Enjoy!

 

[eblack0409]

I love the Beach Club/Yacht Club....we have never stayed there, but I would love to.....I would stay there over any of the others you mentioned!

 

[f7prez]

From the choices you listed, I would say GF would best fit your needs. Plenty of great restaurants on site, with even more choices just a monorail ride away at Poly or Contemporary. Plenty of recreation, even a spa. Great pools, and did I mention the monorail that is a short walk from your room.

With that said, did you ever consider the Polynesian? I would ask you to check out the link below, explore tikimans website of this fabulous resort
(the most revisited resort on Disney property), and then make your decision.

http://www.tikiman2001.homestead.com/